Academic literature on the topic '2-staged forced choice'

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is commonly staged according to the percentage of predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1 % pred), but other methods have been proposed. In this study we compared the performance of seven staging methods in predicting outcomes.We retrospectively studied 296 COPD outpatients. For each patient the disease severity was staged by separately applying the following methods: the criteria proposed by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD), quartiles of FEV1 % pred and z-score of FEV1, quartiles and specified cut-off points of the ratio of FEV1 over height squared ((FEV1·Ht−2)A and (FEV1·Ht−2)B, respectively), and quartiles of the ratio of FEV1 over height cubed (FEV1·Ht−3) and of FEV1 quotient (FEV1Q). We evaluated the performance of these methods in predicting the risks of severe acute exacerbation and all-cause mortality.Overall, staging based on the reference-independent FEV1Q performed best in predicting the risks of severe acute exacerbation (including frequent exacerbation) and mortality, followed by (FEV1·Ht−2)B. The performance of staging methods could also be influenced by the choice of cut-off values. Future work using large and ethnically diverse populations to refine and validate the cut-off values would enhance the prediction of outcomes.

Two experiments investigated the acquisition of English comparative adjective forms, Adj+er and more Adj. In Experiment 1, 72 children, four- and seven-years-old, indicated their preferences for the synthetic or periphrastic comparative form for 16 adjectives in a forced-choice judgement task; their responses were compared to those of a group of adults (Graziano-King, 2003). In Experiment 2, a group of 29 children, ranging in age from 5;1 to 10;9, and a group of 11 adults performed a forced-choice judgement task, similar to that of Experiment 1, and an elicited production task, responding to the same 32 adjectives for both tasks. The two studies together support an acquisition trajectory of three stages. In the first stage, children show no preference for either form of the comparative; in the second, they adopt a suffixation rule; and in the third, they abandon the general rule and become conservative learners, eventually reaching the adult target.

Despite centuries of speculation about how to manage negative emotions, little is actually known about which emotion-regulation strategies people choose to use when confronted with negative situations of varying intensity. On the basis of a new process conception of emotion regulation, we hypothesized that in low-intensity negative situations, people would show a relative preference to choose to regulate emotions by engagement reappraisal, which allows emotional processing. However, we expected people in high-intensity negative situations to show a relative preference to choose to regulate emotions by disengagement distraction, which blocks emotional processing at an early stage before it gathers force. In three experiments, we created emotional contexts that varied in intensity, using either emotional pictures (Experiments 1 and 2) or unpredictable electric stimulation (Experiment 3). In response to these emotional contexts, participants chose between using either reappraisal or distraction as an emotion-regulation strategy. Results in all experiments supported our hypothesis. This pattern in the choice of emotion-regulation strategies has important implications for the understanding of healthy adaptation.

Abstract Aim Medical trainees make career choices in the final year of medical school or after graduation, if they do not continue with residency directly. Most Dutch medical students are trained in vertically integrated (VI) curricula, with early clinical experience and a gradual increase in clinical responsibilities. Students in such curricula have been reported to make career choices at an earlier stage than graduates from more traditionally designed curricula. Many Dutch graduates build further clinical experience after graduation as physicians-not-in-training (PNITs) before beginning residency. We explored how students make career choices and whether pre-residency clinical responsibilities influence this choice. Method A qualitative study with a phenomenology approach was used. The authors conducted a longitudinal interview study of medical students with two intervals over a 2-year period. The interview questions covered how trainees establish career preferences and which factors affect preference and choice over time. Results Experiencing clinical responsibility was a key factor for career preference during all interview rounds. Being a PNIT who makes diagnostic and therapeutic decisions, have their own patients and have significant patient care responsibilities creates opportunities to build an image of a future context of employment. Some participants mentioned that their experience of having full responsibility as a PNIT was pivotal in a career preference change. Conclusion Clinical responsibility as a student or a PNIT appears to be important for career preference and choice. The experience of responsibility as a medical doctor forces trainees to reflect on personal needs and to consider which career preference fits best.

Previous studies of political decision making have used only “static” choice sets, where alternatives are “fixed” and are a priori known to the decision maker. We assess the effect of a dynamic choice set (new alternatives appear during the decision process) on strategy selection and choice in international politics. We suggest that decision makers use a mixture of decision strategies when making decisions in a two-stage process consisting of an initial screening of available alternatives, and a selection of the best one from the subset of remaining alternatives. To test the effects of dynamic and static choice sets on the decision process we introduce a computer-based “process tracer” in a study of top-ranking officers in the U.S. Air Force. The results show that (1) national security decision makers use a mixture of strategies in arriving at a decision, and (2) strategy selection and choice are significantly influenced by the structure of the choice set (static versus dynamic).

Aim. Creation of a model of fuzzy logic for predicting the risk of postoperative complications and the choice of individual optimal surgical tactics in obstructive jaundice caused by choledocholithiasis. Methods. At the first stage, we determined the most prognostically significant factors affecting the risk of postoperative complications. In accordance with these factors, linguistic variables were introduced: X1 - patient’s age; X2 - duration of jaundice; X3 - temperature; X4 - comorbidities; X5 - the level of liver dysfunction; X6 - CD4+ in the blood; X7 - interleukin-2 in the serum; Y - level of risk. The intervals of their changes were determined. Fuzzi Logic Toolbox Matlab soft was used to achieve the determined aim. The values of input variables were introduced into the model, transformed in the «Phaser» block and then the rule base of the fuzzy inference system was formed by the expert method. As a result, the level of risk is determined and the choice of surgical tactics is made: (1) risk is absent or low (A); (2) doubtful risk (B) - if the risk assessment in the dynamics after preoperative therapy decreases, then tactics A, if the score does not decrease or increases, then tactics C; (3) high and very high risk (C) - an unequivocal choice of stage tactics. Results. According to the defined level of risk, in 92 patients a one-stage procedure was used, while 58 underwent a two-stage intervention. Due to the developed fuzzy mathematical model, forecasting of the optimal choice of surgical tactics is achieved, which significantly improves the results of treatment. Conclusion. The developed fuzzy mathematical model makes it possible to differentiate the choice of surgical tactics for a particular patient and thereby reduce the incidence of postoperative complications from 29.0 to 4.7% and mortality from 11.0 to 1.3%.

Osteochondritis dissecans (OD) involves the adolescent radio-capitellar joint and is due to chronic, compressive forces on the capitellum, ultimately causing injuries ranging from an articular cartilage injury to an osteochondral avulsion fracture. Plain films are often negative, while CT, MRI and MR arthrography are the examinations of choice. OD should not be confused with a pseudodefect of the capitellum or Panner's disease. Staging of the lesion is important for its management, which is conservative for stages 1 and 2, while surgery is indicated for stages 3 and 4. Osteoarthritis is a late complication in 50% of patients with advanced disease.

Cobalt and nickel alloy powders were obtained by electrochemical deposition on a titanium cathode from an ammonium solution of cobalt and nickel sulfate. Powders of a specific chemical structure and composition, particle shape and size were obtained by an appropriate choice of electrolysis parameters, current density, deposit growth rate and solution temperature and composition. Within the current density range of 5 - 450 mAcm-2, the current density did not significantly affect the chemical composition of the powders, but had a significant effect on the particle structure, shape and size. Crystal particles formed at a current density lower than 30 mAcm-2. Amorphous powders were obtained at a current density higher than 50 mAcm-2. Structural changes of the obtained amorphous powder of 55mol.% Ni, 45 mol.% Co, pressed under the pressure of 100 MPa, were investigated by measuring the temperature dependence of electrical resistance in isothermal and non-isothermal conditions varying from room temperature to 750?C. The process of thermal stabilization of defects that appeared during pressing occurred within the temperature range of 200-390?C. The DSC method was used to determine that the powder crystallization process occurred in two stages with peak temperatures of the exothermal maximum in the first and second stage of T1 = 438?C and T2 = 573?C, respectively. A distinct correlation between the change of electrical resistance and the crystallization process was established. The reduction of electrical resistively occurs during each crystallization stage.

The stability of the slope in the existing and design provisions is investigated, the constructive decisions of retaining walls on protection of the territory of construction of a residential complex in a zone of a slope are substantiated. The stability of the slope when using rational landslide structures is estimated. The results of the calculation of the slope stability for five characteristic sections on the basis of engineering-geological survey are analyzed. For each of the given sections the finite-element scheme according to the last data on change of a relief is created. The slope was formed artificially by filling the existing ravine with construction debris from the demolition of old houses and from the excavation of ditches for the first houses of the complex. Five sections along the slope are considered and its stability in the natural state and design positions is determined. Also the constructive decisions of retaining walls on protection of the territory of construction of a residential complex as along the slope there are bulk soils with various difference of heights are substantiated. This requires a separate approach to the choice of parameters of retaining walls, namely the dimensions of the piles and their mutual placement, as well as the choice of the angle of the bulk soil along the slope. The calculations were performed using numerical simulation of the stress-strain state of the system "slope soils-retaining wall" using the finite element method. An elastic-plastic model of soil deformation with a change in soil parameters (deformation module) depending on the level of stresses in the soil is adopted. Hardening soil model (HSM) used. Calculations of slope stability involve taking into account the technological sequence of erection of retaining walls and modeling of the phased development of the pit. The simulation was performed in several stages: Stage 1 - determination of stresses from the own shaft, Stage 2 - assessment of slope stability before construction, Stage 3 - installation of retaining wall piles, Stage 4 - assessment of slope stability after landslides. Based on these studies, practical recommendations were developed for the design of each section of the retaining wall in accordance with the characteristic cross-sections.

The biotechnology of somatic embryogenesis in in vitro culture is the most promising direction in the reproduction of conifers. The use of this technology makes it possible not only to massively propagate the best genotypes of trees, but also serves a model for studying the structural, physiological and molecular and genetic mechanisms of both somatic and zygotic embryogenesis in conifers. The main aim of this research was to obtain embryogenic cultures (ECs) producing somatic embryos and embryonic suspension mass (ESM) of Picea obovata. The studies were carried out in 2014-2019 on 30 Siberian spruce trees growing in the vicinity of the city of Krasnoyarsk. To detect genotypes competent for somatic embryogenesis, new donor trees were selected every year for the experiment. 3-10 cones were collected from each tree at different stages of embryo development: globular embryo (the first decade of July), the initiation stage cotyledons (second decade of July), the stage of developed cotyledons (third decade of July) and mature embryos (August). Sterilized explants (zygotic embryos at different stages of development) were introduced into in vitro culture on basic media DCR (Gupta PK and Durzan DJ, 1985), ½LV (Litvay JD et al., 1985), MS (Murashige T and Skoog F, 1962) and AI (Tretyakova IN, 2012). All media were supplemented with myo-inositol - 100 mg/L, casein hydrolyzate - 500-1000 mg/L, L-glutamine - 500 mg/L, sucrose - 30 g/L and agar - 7 g/L. Ascorbic acid at a concentration of 400 mg/L was used as an antioxidant. The level of growth regulators was: 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) - 2 mg/L and N6 -benzoaminopurine (BAP) - 1 mg/L. For the proliferation of the ESM, DCR and AI basic media containing 2,4-D (2 mg/L), BAP (0.5 mg/L) and sucrose (20 g/L) were used. The pH was adjusted to pH = 5.8. All culture medium and components were sterilized depending on their termolabile properties. Under aseptic conditions, embryos were removed from megagametophytes and inoculated into nutrient media, 10 explants per flask in 25 replicates. The cultures were incubated in the dark at 24 ± 1 °C. Subcultivation to fresh nutrient medium was carried out every 14 days. To control the quality of cell lines (CL) during subculturing, we performed cytological analyzes using temporary preparations (3-5 preparations for each CL). We evaluated the quality of the embryogenicity of the cultures by the presence of even single structures with pronounced polarity - a globular embryo with a suspensor. The results of the study showed that the induction of callus cultures of Siberian spruce is influenced by such factors as the development stage of the explant, the nutrient medium and the genotype of the donor tree. The introduction of P. obovata immature zygotic embryos into in vitro culture at the stage of the globular embryo, both with megagametophytes and extracted from them, turned out to be ineffective. The induction of callus cultures in Siberian spruce was significantly reduced when mature zygotic embryos were introduced into the culture in vitro. The highest response of explants of Siberian spruce was at the stage of developed cotyledons (See Table 1). In the DCR medium, 90% of explants formed callus (See Table 2). The mineral composition of the media did not significantly affect the induction of callus formation in Siberian spruce. The exception was the MS medium, in which callus cultures were formed only in 41% of explants (See Table 2). The growth of callus cultures was most active in the DCR medium. After 6 months of cultivation, 15-32% of calli remained viable (See Table 2). Cytological analysis of callus cultures showed that they include cells of different types (See Fig. 1 and 2). The first type of cells consisted of elongated cells reaching a length of 10 ± 3 μm, others consisted of isodiametric cells with a diameter of 60 ± 3.5 μm. The somatic embryo globule and embryonic tubes were formed from elongated cells. Isodiametric cells were actively dividing and forming callus. Only 3 cell lines (out of 300 cell lines) belonging to two donor trees had an active ability to proliferate. Globular somatic embryos were actively forming in these cell lines (See Fig. 3). An actively proliferating ESM was formed. Thus, we carried out a comprehensive assessment of the factors influencing the induction of somatic embryogenesis in Siberian spruce. The results obtained indicate that for the successful formation of somatic embryos, the determining factor is not only the choice of donor plants, but also the development stage of the explant. We found that the best stage in the development of zygotic embryos when introduced into in vitro culture of Siberian spruce is the stage of immature embryos with formed cotyledons, while the DCR, ½LV and AI nutrient medium supplemented with growth regulators (2.4-D and BAP) is optimal.

This work explores a novel vision model based coding approach to encode medical images at a perceptually lossless quality, within the framework of the JPEG 2000 coding engine. Perceptually lossless encoding offers the best of both worlds, delivering images free of visual distortions and at the same time providing significantly greater compression ratio gains over its information lossless counterparts. This is achieved through a visual pruning function, embedded with an advanced model of the human visual system to accurately identify and to efficiently remove visually irrelevant/insignificant information. In addition, it maintains bit-stream compliance with the JPEG 2000 coding framework and subsequently is compliant with the Digital Communications in Medicine standard (DICOM). Equally, the pruning function is applicable to other Discrete Wavelet Transform based image coders, e.g., The Set Partitioning in Hierarchical Trees. Further significant coding gains are ex ploited through an artificial edge segmentation algorithm and a novel arithmetic pruning algorithm. The coding effectiveness and qualitative consistency of the algorithm is evaluated through a double-blind subjective assessment with 31 medical experts, performed using a novel 2-staged forced choice assessment that was devised for medical experts, offering the benefits of greater robustness and accuracy in measuring subjective responses. The assessment showed that no differences of statistical significance were perceivable between the original images and the images encoded by the proposed coder.

Nationalism: Past as Prologue began as a single volume being compiled by Ad Akande, a scholar from South Africa, who proposed it to me as co-author about two years ago. The original idea was to examine how the damaging roots of nationalism have been corroding political systems around the world, and creating dangerous obstacles for necessary international cooperation. Since I (Bruce E. Johansen) has written profusely about climate change (global warming, a.k.a. infrared forcing), I suggested a concerted effort in that direction. This is a worldwide existential threat that affects every living thing on Earth. It often compounds upon itself, so delays in reducing emissions of fossil fuels are shortening the amount of time remaining to eliminate the use of fossil fuels to preserve a livable planet. Nationalism often impedes solutions to this problem (among many others), as nations place their singular needs above the common good. Our initial proposal got around, and abstracts on many subjects arrived. Within a few weeks, we had enough good material for a 100,000-word book. The book then fattened to two moderate volumes and then to four two very hefty tomes. We tried several different titles as good submissions swelled. We also discovered that our best contributors were experts in their fields, which ranged the world. We settled on three stand-alone books:” 1/ nationalism and racial justice. Our first volume grew as the growth of Black Lives Matter following the brutal killing of George Floyd ignited protests over police brutality and other issues during 2020, following the police assassination of Floyd in Minneapolis. It is estimated that more people took part in protests of police brutality during the summer of 2020 than any other series of marches in United States history. This includes upheavals during the 1960s over racial issues and against the war in Southeast Asia (notably Vietnam). We choose a volume on racism because it is one of nationalism’s main motive forces. This volume provides a worldwide array of work on nationalism’s growth in various countries, usually by authors residing in them, or in the United States with ethnic ties to the nation being examined, often recent immigrants to the United States from them. Our roster of contributors comprises a small United Nations of insightful, well-written research and commentary from Indonesia, New Zealand, Australia, China, India, South Africa, France, Portugal, Estonia, Hungary, Russia, Poland, Kazakhstan, Georgia, and the United States. Volume 2 (this one) describes and analyzes nationalism, by country, around the world, except for the United States; and 3/material directly related to President Donald Trump, and the United States. The first volume is under consideration at the Texas A & M University Press. The other two are under contract to Nova Science Publishers (which includes social sciences). These three volumes may be used individually or as a set. Environmental material is taken up in appropriate places in each of the three books. * * * * * What became the United States of America has been strongly nationalist since the English of present-day Massachusetts and Jamestown first hit North America’s eastern shores. The country propelled itself across North America with the self-serving ideology of “manifest destiny” for four centuries before Donald Trump came along. Anyone who believes that a Trumpian affection for deportation of “illegals” is a new thing ought to take a look at immigration and deportation statistics in Adam Goodman’s The Deportation Machine: America’s Long History of Deporting Immigrants (Princeton University Press, 2020). Between 1920 and 2018, the United States deported 56.3 million people, compared with 51.7 million who were granted legal immigration status during the same dates. Nearly nine of ten deportees were Mexican (Nolan, 2020, 83). This kind of nationalism, has become an assassin of democracy as well as an impediment to solving global problems. Paul Krugman wrote in the New York Times (2019:A-25): that “In their 2018 book, How Democracies Die, the political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt documented how this process has played out in many countries, from Vladimir Putin’s Russia, to Recep Erdogan’s Turkey, to Viktor Orban’s Hungary. Add to these India’s Narendra Modi, China’s Xi Jinping, and the United States’ Donald Trump, among others. Bit by bit, the guardrails of democracy have been torn down, as institutions meant to serve the public became tools of ruling parties and self-serving ideologies, weaponized to punish and intimidate opposition parties’ opponents. On paper, these countries are still democracies; in practice, they have become one-party regimes….And it’s happening here [the United States] as we speak. If you are not worried about the future of American democracy, you aren’t paying attention” (Krugmam, 2019, A-25). We are reminded continuously that the late Carl Sagan, one of our most insightful scientific public intellectuals, had an interesting theory about highly developed civilizations. Given the number of stars and planets that must exist in the vast reaches of the universe, he said, there must be other highly developed and organized forms of life. Distance may keep us from making physical contact, but Sagan said that another reason we may never be on speaking terms with another intelligent race is (judging from our own example) could be their penchant for destroying themselves in relatively short order after reaching technological complexity. This book’s chapters, introduction, and conclusion examine the worldwide rise of partisan nationalism and the damage it has wrought on the worldwide pursuit of solutions for issues requiring worldwide scope, such scientific co-operation public health and others, mixing analysis of both. We use both historical description and analysis. This analysis concludes with a description of why we must avoid the isolating nature of nationalism that isolates people and encourages separation if we are to deal with issues of world-wide concern, and to maintain a sustainable, survivable Earth, placing the dominant political movement of our time against the Earth’s existential crises. Our contributors, all experts in their fields, each have assumed responsibility for a country, or two if they are related. This work entwines themes of worldwide concern with the political growth of nationalism because leaders with such a worldview are disinclined to co-operate internationally at a time when nations must find ways to solve common problems, such as the climate crisis. Inability to cooperate at this stage may doom everyone, eventually, to an overheated, stormy future plagued by droughts and deluges portending shortages of food and other essential commodities, meanwhile destroying large coastal urban areas because of rising sea levels. Future historians may look back at our time and wonder why as well as how our world succumbed to isolating nationalism at a time when time was so short for cooperative intervention which is crucial for survival of a sustainable earth. Pride in language and culture is salubrious to individuals’ sense of history and identity. Excess nationalism that prevents international co-operation on harmful worldwide maladies is quite another. As Pope Francis has pointed out: For all of our connectivity due to expansion of social media, ability to communicate can breed contempt as well as mutual trust. “For all our hyper-connectivity,” said Francis, “We witnessed a fragmentation that made it more difficult to resolve problems that affect us all” (Horowitz, 2020, A-12). The pope’s encyclical, titled “Brothers All,” also said: “The forces of myopic, extremist, resentful, and aggressive nationalism are on the rise.” The pope’s document also advocates support for migrants, as well as resistance to nationalist and tribal populism. Francis broadened his critique to the role of market capitalism, as well as nationalism has failed the peoples of the world when they need co-operation and solidarity in the face of the world-wide corona virus pandemic. Humankind needs to unite into “a new sense of the human family [Fratelli Tutti, “Brothers All”], that rejects war at all costs” (Pope, 2020, 6-A). Our journey takes us first to Russia, with the able eye and honed expertise of Richard D. Anderson, Jr. who teaches as UCLA and publishes on the subject of his chapter: “Putin, Russian identity, and Russia’s conduct at home and abroad.” Readers should find Dr. Anderson’s analysis fascinating because Vladimir Putin, the singular leader of Russian foreign and domestic policy these days (and perhaps for the rest of his life, given how malleable Russia’s Constitution has become) may be a short man physically, but has high ambitions. One of these involves restoring the old Russian (and Soviet) empire, which would involve re-subjugating a number of nations that broke off as the old order dissolved about 30 years ago. President (shall we say czar?) Putin also has international ambitions, notably by destabilizing the United States, where election meddling has become a specialty. The sight of Putin and U.S. president Donald Trump, two very rich men (Putin $70-$200 billion; Trump $2.5 billion), nuzzling in friendship would probably set Thomas Jefferson and Vladimir Lenin spinning in their graves. The road of history can take some unanticipated twists and turns. Consider Poland, from which we have an expert native analysis in chapter 2, Bartosz Hlebowicz, who is a Polish anthropologist and journalist. His piece is titled “Lawless and Unjust: How to Quickly Make Your Own Country a Puppet State Run by a Group of Hoodlums – the Hopeless Case of Poland (2015–2020).” When I visited Poland to teach and lecture twice between 2006 and 2008, most people seemed to be walking on air induced by freedom to conduct their own affairs to an unusual degree for a state usually squeezed between nationalists in Germany and Russia. What did the Poles then do in a couple of decades? Read Hlebowicz’ chapter and decide. It certainly isn’t soft-bellied liberalism. In Chapter 3, with Bruce E. Johansen, we visit China’s western provinces, the lands of Tibet as well as the Uighurs and other Muslims in the Xinjiang region, who would most assuredly resent being characterized as being possessed by the Chinese of the Han to the east. As a student of Native American history, I had never before thought of the Tibetans and Uighurs as Native peoples struggling against the Independence-minded peoples of a land that is called an adjunct of China on most of our maps. The random act of sitting next to a young woman on an Air India flight out of Hyderabad, bound for New Delhi taught me that the Tibetans had something to share with the Lakota, the Iroquois, and hundreds of other Native American states and nations in North America. Active resistance to Chinese rule lasted into the mid-nineteenth century, and continues today in a subversive manner, even in song, as I learned in 2018 when I acted as a foreign adjudicator on a Ph.D. dissertation by a Tibetan student at the University of Madras (in what is now in a city called Chennai), in southwestern India on resistance in song during Tibet’s recent history. Tibet is one of very few places on Earth where a young dissident can get shot to death for singing a song that troubles China’s Quest for Lebensraum. The situation in Xinjiang region, where close to a million Muslims have been interned in “reeducation” camps surrounded with brick walls and barbed wire. They sing, too. Come with us and hear the music. Back to Europe now, in Chapter 4, to Portugal and Spain, we find a break in the general pattern of nationalism. Portugal has been more progressive governmentally than most. Spain varies from a liberal majority to military coups, a pattern which has been exported to Latin America. A situation such as this can make use of the term “populism” problematic, because general usage in our time usually ties the word into a right-wing connotative straightjacket. “Populism” can be used to describe progressive (left-wing) insurgencies as well. José Pinto, who is native to Portugal and also researches and writes in Spanish as well as English, in “Populism in Portugal and Spain: a Real Neighbourhood?” provides insight into these historical paradoxes. Hungary shares some historical inclinations with Poland (above). Both emerged from Soviet dominance in an air of developing freedom and multicultural diversity after the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union collapsed. Then, gradually at first, right wing-forces began to tighten up, stripping structures supporting popular freedom, from the courts, mass media, and other institutions. In Chapter 5, Bernard Tamas, in “From Youth Movement to Right-Liberal Wing Authoritarianism: The Rise of Fidesz and the Decline of Hungarian Democracy” puts the renewed growth of political and social repression into a context of worldwide nationalism. Tamas, an associate professor of political science at Valdosta State University, has been a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University and a Fulbright scholar at the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. His books include From Dissident to Party Politics: The Struggle for Democracy in Post-Communist Hungary (2007). Bear in mind that not everyone shares Orbán’s vision of what will make this nation great, again. On graffiti-covered walls in Budapest, Runes (traditional Hungarian script) has been found that read “Orbán is a motherfucker” (Mikanowski, 2019, 58). Also in Europe, in Chapter 6, Professor Ronan Le Coadic, of the University of Rennes, Rennes, France, in “Is There a Revival of French Nationalism?” Stating this title in the form of a question is quite appropriate because France’s nationalistic shift has built and ebbed several times during the last few decades. For a time after 2000, it came close to assuming the role of a substantial minority, only to ebb after that. In 2017, the candidate of the National Front reached the second round of the French presidential election. This was the second time this nationalist party reached the second round of the presidential election in the history of the Fifth Republic. In 2002, however, Jean-Marie Le Pen had only obtained 17.79% of the votes, while fifteen years later his daughter, Marine Le Pen, almost doubled her father's record, reaching 33.90% of the votes cast. Moreover, in the 2019 European elections, re-named Rassemblement National obtained the largest number of votes of all French political formations and can therefore boast of being "the leading party in France.” The brutality of oppressive nationalism may be expressed in personal relationships, such as child abuse. While Indonesia and Aotearoa [the Maoris’ name for New Zealand] hold very different ranks in the United Nations Human Development Programme assessments, where Indonesia is classified as a medium development country and Aotearoa New Zealand as a very high development country. In Chapter 7, “Domestic Violence Against Women in Indonesia and Aotearoa New Zealand: Making Sense of Differences and Similarities” co-authors, in Chapter 8, Mandy Morgan and Dr. Elli N. Hayati, from New Zealand and Indonesia respectively, found that despite their socio-economic differences, one in three women in each country experience physical or sexual intimate partner violence over their lifetime. In this chapter ther authors aim to deepen understandings of domestic violence through discussion of the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of theit countries to address domestic violence alongside studies of women’s attitudes to gender norms and experiences of intimate partner violence. One of the most surprising and upsetting scholarly journeys that a North American student may take involves Adolf Hitler’s comments on oppression of American Indians and Blacks as he imagined the construction of the Nazi state, a genesis of nationalism that is all but unknown in the United States of America, traced in this volume (Chapter 8) by co-editor Johansen. Beginning in Mein Kampf, during the 1920s, Hitler explicitly used the westward expansion of the United States across North America as a model and justification for Nazi conquest and anticipated colonization by Germans of what the Nazis called the “wild East” – the Slavic nations of Poland, the Baltic states, Ukraine, and Russia, most of which were under control of the Soviet Union. The Volga River (in Russia) was styled by Hitler as the Germans’ Mississippi, and covered wagons were readied for the German “manifest destiny” of imprisoning, eradicating, and replacing peoples the Nazis deemed inferior, all with direct references to events in North America during the previous century. At the same time, with no sense of contradiction, the Nazis partook of a long-standing German romanticism of Native Americans. One of Goebbels’ less propitious schemes was to confer honorary Aryan status on Native American tribes, in the hope that they would rise up against their oppressors. U.S. racial attitudes were “evidence [to the Nazis] that America was evolving in the right direction, despite its specious rhetoric about equality.” Ming Xie, originally from Beijing, in the People’s Republic of China, in Chapter 9, “News Coverage and Public Perceptions of the Social Credit System in China,” writes that The State Council of China in 2014 announced “that a nationwide social credit system would be established” in China. “Under this system, individuals, private companies, social organizations, and governmental agencies are assigned a score which will be calculated based on their trustworthiness and daily actions such as transaction history, professional conduct, obedience to law, corruption, tax evasion, and academic plagiarism.” The “nationalism” in this case is that of the state over the individual. China has 1.4 billion people; this system takes their measure for the purpose of state control. Once fully operational, control will be more subtle. People who are subject to it, through modern technology (most often smart phones) will prompt many people to self-censor. Orwell, modernized, might write: “Your smart phone is watching you.” Ming Xie holds two Ph.Ds, one in Public Administration from University of Nebraska at Omaha and another in Cultural Anthropology from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, where she also worked for more than 10 years at a national think tank in the same institution. While there she summarized news from non-Chinese sources for senior members of the Chinese Communist Party. Ming is presently an assistant professor at the Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice, West Texas A&M University. In Chapter 10, analyzing native peoples and nationhood, Barbara Alice Mann, Professor of Honours at the University of Toledo, in “Divide, et Impera: The Self-Genocide Game” details ways in which European-American invaders deprive the conquered of their sense of nationhood as part of a subjugation system that amounts to genocide, rubbing out their languages and cultures -- and ultimately forcing the native peoples to assimilate on their own, for survival in a culture that is foreign to them. Mann is one of Native American Studies’ most acute critics of conquests’ contradictions, and an author who retrieves Native history with a powerful sense of voice and purpose, having authored roughly a dozen books and numerous book chapters, among many other works, who has traveled around the world lecturing and publishing on many subjects. Nalanda Roy and S. Mae Pedron in Chapter 11, “Understanding the Face of Humanity: The Rohingya Genocide.” describe one of the largest forced migrations in the history of the human race, the removal of 700,000 to 800,000 Muslims from Buddhist Myanmar to Bangladesh, which itself is already one of the most crowded and impoverished nations on Earth. With about 150 million people packed into an area the size of Nebraska and Iowa (population less than a tenth that of Bangladesh, a country that is losing land steadily to rising sea levels and erosion of the Ganges river delta. The Rohingyas’ refugee camp has been squeezed onto a gigantic, eroding, muddy slope that contains nearly no vegetation. However, Bangladesh is majority Muslim, so while the Rohingya may starve, they won’t be shot to death by marauding armies. Both authors of this exquisite (and excruciating) account teach at Georgia Southern University in Savannah, Georgia, Roy as an associate professor of International Studies and Asian politics, and Pedron as a graduate student; Roy originally hails from very eastern India, close to both Myanmar and Bangladesh, so he has special insight into the context of one of the most brutal genocides of our time, or any other. This is our case describing the problems that nationalism has and will pose for the sustainability of the Earth as our little blue-and-green orb becomes more crowded over time. The old ways, in which national arguments often end in devastating wars, are obsolete, given that the Earth and all the people, plants, and other animals that it sustains are faced with the existential threat of a climate crisis that within two centuries, more or less, will flood large parts of coastal cities, and endanger many species of plants and animals. To survive, we must listen to the Earth, and observe her travails, because they are increasingly our own.

Abstract This work completes the recent authors efforts in the frame of solid dampers optimization, whose goal are to develop systematic design tools to identify the best choice of an underplatform damper (shape, size) matching with a blade (size, modal features) in a turbomachine. Step 1 was to filter out all those geometries that would lead to undesirable kinematics and contact forces. Step 2 was to identify those ranges of parameters that are better in terms of added stiffness and damping. The purpose of this third and final step is to complete the picture by exploring how the basic geometrical design parameters of blades interact with the damper parameters and where (i.e., for which parameters combination) a designer may find the best match in view of the vibratory response under resonant excitation. The main focus is on the blades HCF safety. While steps 1 and 2 are based on simple geometrical considerations, this step 3 requires a non-linear coupled dynamic analysis of the system. It is demonstrated how the variation of crucial parameters (e.g. neck thickness, damper geometry, centrifugal force) affects the performance of a real damper coupled to a realistic blade. The method, based on reasonable simplifications, is illustrated and proposed as a tool to make the analysis attractive to designers in the early design stage by guiding their initial choice of an optimal dry friction damper.

Stability and synchronous-response predictions, which were presented in the paper “A Lateral Rotordynamics Primer on Electric Submersible Pumps (ESPs) for Deep Subsea Applications” [1], are reevaluated to include the effect of the fluid between the pump housing and well casing. Conclusions are made based on these new findings. The same two-line rotor-housing model is used to model the pump’s rotor and its housing. The model dimensions are based on direct measurements of an ESP. The pump rotor and pump housing are only connected together at each stage by reaction forces and moments from seals and bushings. The rotor model is pinned to the housing at the rotor’s ends. The housing model is pinned to ground at its ends. Synchronous response predictions are presented for: (1) relative rotor-housing motion, and (2) housing velocity-response amplitudes. When handling viscosity of water, the rotor-housing model is predicted to be stable at new (centered) 1X clearances but rapidly becomes unstable with enlarged clearances (2X, 3X), primarily due to rapidly dropping rotor-housing natural frequencies. The impact of introducing effective swirl brakes for the stages’ wear ring seals was investigated for a pump running at 3600 rpm. Their predicted impact on stability and synchronous response were: (1) Onset speeds of instabilities (OSIs) were elevated well above running speed, and (2) Synchronous response amplitudes were reduced modestly. Housing-response amplitudes varied considerably with the choice of housing-termination locations. For a pump rotor length of Lr, varying the lengths of a centered housing over 1.5Lr, 2Lr, and 3Lr changes the housing’s natural frequency. This natural frequency can coincide with the running speed with proper termination conditions. If the running speed coincided large housing vibration amplitudes associated with resonance would exceed most vibration regulations; however, relative rotor-stator-response amplitudes were a small fraction of clearances for all cases. When handling emulsions at markedly higher viscosities, with a pump speed of 3600 rpm and new centered clearances, the predicted OSI was below 300 rpm. The OSI rapidly increased as the seals were displaced eccentrically, quickly elevating the 1st rotor-stator natural frequency above 1800 rpm and the OSI above 3600 rpm. With the model stabilized at 0.2 eccentricity, the synchronous relative rotor-housing amplitudes were a small fraction of seal clearances. Swirl brakes were not predicted to be effective in elevating pump OSIs for high viscosity fluids with new clearances; however, they became effective as clearances were increased. An ESP housing can contact the well casing in many possible scenarios (axial locations, contact-area length or girth, etc.). A mid-span, point radial contact was examined and modeled as a stiff-spring connection from the housing to ground. For both water and oil-water emulsions, a stiff housing-to-casing contact produced major elliptical housing motion (versus circular motion without contact). However, it had a comparably minor impact on relative rotor-housing response amplitudes or rotordynamic stability.

The European FITNET consortium was convened in 2002 with the remit of preparing a procedure for fitness-for-service (FFS) evaluation of flawed engineering components. The procedure is intended to be used by a broad range of industries across Europe, and can be used at any stage in the life of an engineering component, eg design, fabrication, operation, failure analysis or life extension. This paper presents an overview of the structure of the procedure. There are four main modules, each covering a particular failure or damage mechanism: fracture, fatigue, creep and corrosion (including environmentally-assisted cracking). These are linked by the use of a common terminology and a single set of reference compendia (annexes), eg for stress intensity, plastic collapse and residual stress, so that a particular flaw can be rapidly analysed for more than one failure mechanism. The FITNET fracture assessment procedures in particular represent a significant advance compared with current published FFS procedures such as API 579-1/ASME FFS-1 and BS 7910. There is a hierarchy of different approaches, designated Options 0 to 5, the choice between them depending on the quality of information (in particular, materials property data) available to the user. This could range from Charpy and tensile data only (Option 0) through to the constraint-dependence of fracture toughness (Option 5). Other Options allow crack driving force to be calculated directly from FEA (Option 4), or permit weld metal strength mismatch to be taken into account (Option 2). The fatigue analysis module likewise contains several alternative approaches, termed Routes. Some (Routes 1–3) are based on the concept of a nominally flaw-free structure, whilst Route 4 is based on cycle-by-cycle integration of the Paris law, and Route 5 addresses non-planar flaws. FITNET also set itself the goal of providing training in FFS techniques, both through a series of seminars held during the project (2002–2006) and through provision of lasting training material (slides, tutorials, case studies and a validation document), which are now publicly available.

Abstract The minimization of autoignition risk is critical to the design of premixers of high power aeroderivative gas turbines as an increased use of highly reactive future fuels (for example, hydrogen or higher hydrocarbons) is anticipated. Safety factors based on ignition delays of homogeneous mixtures, are generally used to guide the choice of a residence time for a given premixer. However, autoignition chemistry at aeroderivative conditions is fast (0.5–2 milliseconds) and can be initiated within typical premixer residence times. The analysis of what takes place in this short period necessarily involves the study of low-temperature autoignition precursor chemistry, but precursors can change with fuel and local reactivity. Chemical Explosive Modes are a natural alternative to study this as they can provide a measure of autoignition risk by considering the whole thermochemical state in the framework of an eigenvalue problem. When transport effects are included by coupling the evolution of the Chemical Explosive Modes to turbulence, it is possible to obtain a measure of spatial autoignition risk where both chemical (e.g. ignition delay) and aerodynamic (e.g. local residence time) influences are unified. In this article, we describe a method that couples Large Eddy Simulation to newly developed, reduced autoignition chemical kinetics to study autoignition precursors in an example pre-mixer representative of real life geometric complexity. A blend of pure methane and dimethyl ether (DME), a common fuel used for experimental autoignition studies, was transported using the reduced mechanism (38 species / 238 reactions) at engine conditions at increasing levels of DME concentration until exothermic autoignition kernels were formed. The resolution of species profiles was ensured by using a thickened flame model where dynamic thickening was carried out with a flame sensor modified to work with multi-stage heat release. The paper is outlined as follows: First, a reduced mechanism is constructed and validated for modeling methane as well as di-methyl ether (DME) autoignition. Second, sensitivity analysis is used to show the need for Chemical Explosive Modes. Third, the thickened flame model modifications are described and then applied to an example premixer at 25 bar / 890K preheat. The Chemical Explosive Mode analysis closely follows the large thermochemical changes in the premixer as a function of DME concentration and identifies where the premixer is sensitive and flame anchoring is likely to occur.

Fossil fuels have been a means of energy source since a long time, and have tended to the needs of the large global population. These conventional sources are bound to deplete in the near future and hence there is a need for producing energy from renewable energy sources like solar, wind, geothermal, tidal etc. Technologies involving renewable energy are a growing subject of concern. Further, the problem is also one of excessive pollution caused by conventional sources of energy and their impact on the environment. In particular, one of the main sources of pollution is harmful gases emitting out of automobiles. Wind energy is one among the renewable energy sources which is implemented in large scale energy production to supplement growing domestic energy needs. Significant amount of research has been done in this field to harness energy to power household and other amenities using wind farms. The aim of this project is to come up with a low cost solution for wind energy harvesting on moving vehicles. The purpose of this study is to consider the use of wind energy along with conventional energy sources to power automobiles. This would help reduce the use of fossil fuels in automobiles and hence reduce the resulting environmental pollution. Also since the turbine adds to the weight of the vehicle the aim also is to minimize the weight of the turbine. Extensive structural analysis is done for this purpose to choose a material which would be both light weight and also be able to withstand the stresses developed. In the current paper the drag force produced in automobiles is harvested by using a convergent divergent nozzle mounted below the chassis of the car. Initially drag analysis is done in order to determine the increase in drag force produced after mounting of the nozzle. It is found from existing literature that the drag increases by 3.4% after the mounting of the nozzle making it possible the mounting of a nozzle beneath the car. Additionally exhaust gases is also allowed to pass through the same duct to increase the mass flow to the turbine and thus generate more energy. This is made to strike the blades of a 2 stage axial flow turbine whose rotation generates energy. The power output from the turbine is the parameter of interest. This energy can also be stored in batteries and be used to run auxiliary equipment of the automobile including the air conditioner. The exhaust gases will be passed through a catalytic converter before striking the blades of the turbine in order to prevent corrosion of the blades. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is used to validate the concept and also come up with a design that maximizes energy generation by such turbines. Numerical results obtained by simulation are validated by theoretical calculation based on turbines inlet and outlet velocity triangles. The future scope of the project would include the use of multiple nozzles in order to study its performance.